Deeds of Total Fucking Violence! - 95%

Fucking hell, they did it again! Deeds Of Flesh have pretty much set themselves up as one of the most consistent death metal bands in the entire history of the genre. Along with the likes of Incantation, Immolation and a handful of others, their entire discography is essential and reeks of greatness. Of course, their inhuman technicality and precision is often written off as boring by sniveling momma’s-boys who wipe their noses on their sleeves and don’t know how to wipe their own asses properly, but that’s life.

Crown Of Souls is essentially Reduced To Ashes Part 2, which in turn was essentially Mark of The Legion Part 2. Deeds have definitely settled into a comfortable niche with the current, highly stable three-piece lineup and proceed to whip out album after album of cold, highly skilled brutal death metal. The only emotion discernable here is really “YOU.DIE.NOW” - they don’t conjure up an evil atmosphere, it’s more like the calculating robotic single-mindedness of a highly focused psychopath going about his business of killing someone in an extremely messy fashion and leaving no evidence.

As usual, this is an awesome display of death metal violence. The drums pound away in all their triggered glory (although this time the snare is sometimes almost too highly tuned, pinging away with that annoying tin-can PING sound on a few songs, while elsewhere it sounds perfect), the guitar/bass tandem rips out riff after riff with nary a concern for such frivolities as hooks or subtlety – this shit is designed to stomp on your head, not lull you into a comatose state. All the while, Erik and Jacoby’s dual vocal attack drives home the hammer in a mind-numbing display of growling and shrieking. Overall, if you liked the last 2 albums (or any of the three before, for that matter) you’ll derive a great deal from Crown Of Souls, and if you’re a homo, this won’t turn you straight.